HTML
Living Standard — Last Updated 18 August 2026
Living Standard — Last Updated 18 August 2026
html elementSupport in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
head element followed by a body element.html element's start tag can be omitted
if the first thing inside the html element is not a comment.html element's end tag can be omitted if
the html element is not immediately followed by a comment.[Exposed =Window ]
interface HTMLHtmlElement : HTMLElement {
[HTMLConstructor ] constructor ();
// also has obsolete members
};The html element represents the root of an HTML document.
Authors are encouraged to specify a lang attribute on the root
html element, giving the document's language. This aids speech synthesis tools to
determine what pronunciations to use, translation tools to determine what rules to use, and so
forth.
The html element in the following example declares that the document's language
is English.
<!DOCTYPE html>
< html lang = "en" >
< head >
< title > Swapping Songs</ title >
</ head >
< body >
< h1 > Swapping Songs</ h1 >
< p > Tonight I swapped some of the songs I wrote with some friends, who
gave me some of the songs they wrote. I love sharing my music.</ p >
</ body >
</ html > head elementSupport in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
html element.iframe srcdoc document or if title information is available from a higher-level protocol: Zero or more elements of metadata content, of which no more than one is a title element and no more than one is a base element.title element and no more than one is a base element.head element's start tag can be omitted if
the element is empty, or if the first thing inside the head element is an
element.head element's end tag can be omitted if
the head element is not immediately followed by ASCII whitespace or a
comment.[Exposed =Window ]
interface HTMLHeadElement : HTMLElement {
[HTMLConstructor ] constructor ();
};The head element represents a collection of metadata for the
Document.
The collection of metadata in a head element can be large or small. Here is an
example of a very short one:
<!doctype html>
< html lang = en >
< head >
< title > A document with a short head</ title >
</ head >
< body >
...Here is an example of a longer one:
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
< HTML LANG = "EN" >
< HEAD >
< META CHARSET = "UTF-8" >
< BASE HREF = "https://www.example.com/" >
< TITLE > An application with a long head</ TITLE >
< LINK REL = "STYLESHEET" HREF = "default.css" >
< LINK REL = "STYLESHEET ALTERNATE" HREF = "big.css" TITLE = "Big Text" >
< SCRIPT SRC = "support.js" ></ SCRIPT >
< META NAME = "APPLICATION-NAME" CONTENT = "Long headed application" >
</ HEAD >
< BODY >
...The title element is a required child in most situations, but when a
higher-level protocol provides title information, e.g., in the subject line of an email when HTML
is used as an email authoring format, the title element can be omitted.
title elementSupport in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
head element containing no other title elements.[Exposed =Window ]
interface HTMLTitleElement : HTMLElement {
[HTMLConstructor ] constructor ();
[CEReactions ] attribute DOMString text ;
};The title element represents the document's title or name. Authors
should use titles that identify their documents even when they are used out of context, for
example in a user's history or bookmarks, or in search results. The document's title is often
different from its first heading, since the first heading does not have to stand alone when taken
out of context.
There must be no more than one title element per document.
If it's reasonable for the Document to have no title, then the
title element is probably not required. See the head element's content
model for a description of when the element is required.
title.text [ = value ]Returns the child text content of the element.
Can be set, to replace the element's children with the given value.
The text
attribute's getter must return this title element's child text
content.
The text attribute's setter must string replace
all with the given value within this title element.
Here are some examples of appropriate titles, contrasted with the top-level headings that might be used on those same pages.
< title > Introduction to The Mating Rituals of Bees</ title >
...
< h1 > Introduction</ h1 >
< p > This companion guide to the highly successful
< cite > Introduction to Medieval Bee-Keeping</ cite > book is...The next page might be a part of the same site. Note how the title describes the subject matter unambiguously, while the first heading assumes the reader knows what the context is and therefore won't wonder if the dances are Salsa or Waltz:
< title > Dances used during bee mating rituals</ title >
...
< h1 > The Dances</ h1 > The string to use as the document's title is given by the document.title IDL attribute.
User agents should use the document's title when referring to the document in their user
interface. When the contents of a title element are used in this way, the
directionality of that title element should be used to set the directionality
of the document's title in the user interface.
base elementSupport in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
head element containing no other base elements.href — Document base URL
target — Default navigable for hyperlink navigation and form submission